


Ripples

by Palefire73



Series: Prisoners. The Chronicles of Loki and Erika [22]
Category: Loki - Fandom, Thor - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Hope, Loss, Memories, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 10:10:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18444410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: Loki's imprisonment was a bitter price Thor paid to save his life and he struggles with his decision to do so.italics signify flashback





	Ripples

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ripples](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20236066) by [Palefire73](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73). 



It’s never easy. When there has been someone there for most of your existence, someone who had such a presence that there was hardly a day went by without thinking about them – for good or for bad – it will never, ever be easy to let go. There is the experience of all the “firsts”: times when they would have been right by your side, times when they would have annoyed you so much you’d have fought like mortal enemies, and times when the absence of their love crushes you completely. Then there is the huge change in the routines, duties, whatever you wish to call them, where peoples’ expectations of you change because of the absence of the one who did it better, or who you had to control so that they did not mess the day up. So it will never be easy, but how you deal with it is what matters.

 

The decision to beg for Loki’s life had not been an easy one, indeed it would have been far easier to allow Odin to have him executed and to have an end to the constant trickery and pain he seemed Hel-bent on causing. It would, perhaps, have been a small mercy to put the mischievous God out of his – some would say self-inflicted – misery and restore order to the Nine. However, Thor could not allow it. No matter what had gone on during their thousand-odd year history together, he still had the smallest hope that Loki was a victim of his own self-created circumstances and that if all of those were taken away he could actually lead a decent life.

 

But Odin had been adamant: he would not tolerate Loki’s existence in his Nine and that was the end of it. Thus Thor had found a need to think of a way around his father’s decree somehow. Fortunately, the last few years had led to his introduction to a few smart Midgardian thinkers and between them they had created the idea and then the reality of the prison in which Loki now resided. It had not been easy to implement: Odin had been suspicious, the necessary treatment had almost failed catastrophically and the last piece of the puzzle had been a horrible thing to have to do – imprison another person along with him. Yet they had prevailed and Loki had now been in there for quite some time. The Vision had reported contact with Erika at the beginning, but it seemed she had not been anywhere near the secret site since and Thor could only surmise that she had accepted her destiny and was simply getting on with it. Odin was reporting on what he saw less frequently, although Thor knew that he was still watching the screens that were a window into Loki’s prison life almost obsessively, unable to believe that their plan had been successful and quite shocked by the person Loki was changing into. So it was that their attention was gradually brought back to the repair of Asgard and the Nine, and their roles in ruling over it and protecting it.

 

Loki’s tenure as the King of Asgard had ended having not done the city any favours and the repairs were taking a long time to carry out. There were some people who wanted the original buildings restored, along with their gardens, statues, parks and other aspects of their architecture, but there were others who felt that a renewal would benefit the city and her citizens more; a change in surroundings would help to consign the dreadful period of the Trickster’s dominance to history and help those who had been scarred by it to move on. Thor had mixed feelings about this and as he saw a stone motif of Loki being removed from one of the city squares one morning, he felt saddened that his brother’s memory would forever be tainted by what he had become at the cost of all the times when he had actually made Asgard and the Nine proud. There was even the possibility of Odin eventually managing to erase Loki from Asgardian history altogether, just as emperors of ancient civilisations on other realms had done to some of their great figures throughout the ages. Overcome by strong emotions that he did not care to show in such a public place, the Thunderer returned to the Palace and wandered down through the terraces to the huge lake, where he began to stroll along the shoreline in the hope of some solace.

 

It was clear to the few courtiers and Gods who were enjoying the fair weather by the lake that the Prince did not want to be approached; his slow gait, slumped shoulders and furrowed brow were very strong warnings against ideas of joining him to say hello or to ask him how he fared. He did not see the concerned looks on the faces of the cadets who were missing his regular attendance at their practice in the arena lately and he certainly did not notice how the ladies observed him from saddened faces. He was a very popular member of the Royal family and all about him loved him… and all about him knew just how badly the banishment of Loki had affected him, despite the many times he had put on a brave public face.

 

A young family were down at the very edge of the waters of the lake that day; an Asgardian who specialised in wood turning and joinery was having a rare couple of free hours with his pretty Asgardian wife, their four year old boy and their brand new baby. They were fortunate to live within the Palace grounds due to his being employed as a member of the household staff and had just enjoyed breakfast in their tiny cottage before deciding to come down to the lake. The joiner had decided to teach his little boy a new skill, one he had loved to play with his own father when he was young: skimming stones. It was a game that required only patience and the development of skill in order to become proficient, but it was also a game that would quickly weed out the less patient of beginners, perhaps indicating their general attitude to many things in life. The bright laughter of the handsome little boy broke Thor out of his melancholic reverie and he looked up from the path his feet had been following to see what was happening.

 

“Father! I did it!”

 

               ~ “ _Father, I did it!”_

 

Thor shook his head as the happy voice of the youngster standing by the shore of the lake was echoed by another from inside his head. He watched the boy stoop to pick something up and squinted to see what it was. Curious now, the golden haired Prince of Asgard wandered to a spot that was nearer to the family and chose an old weathered log that had washed up many decades ago to sit on. He smiled at the woman who glanced his way and she gave him an uncertain smile back before jiggling her baby gently and cooing at her as they waited to see what her son would do next. Thor’s bright blue eyes, still a little sunken in his drawn face, turned to see the boy now standing at an angle to the waterline, leaning slightly away from it in the awkward way in which young children hold their bodies and clearly trying to aim his throw. He drew his arm back and then swung it forward with great force… and disappeared from Thor’s view

 

              ~ _“Thor, we MUST leave!”_

 

Thor stared about in disbelief as the gloomy storm-ridden world of Jotúnnheimr appeared around him. Blinking his eyes and shaking his head to rid himself of the vision, he failed only to see Loki and his friends being assailed by the Frost Giants. He could not take his eyes from his brother, looking so young and so fresh-faced, clearly out of his depth and fighting for his life. Just as Thor was about to instinctively try to summon Mjolnir, the Loki in front of him planted his feet, stood at an angle to an approaching Giant and spun his whole body to unleash a spinning blade which cut cleanly through the icy air…

 

“Look at that! Three skips - that must be your record!”

 

Jotúnnheimr, Loki and the Giants all vanished to reveal the Asgardian world in which he was actually present and Thor was once more watching the little boy who was now jumping up and down on the spot clapping with excitement. _What was this?_ Thor felt breathless and as if Mjolnir herself was crushing his heart. _What had he just seen?_ The unwanted prickle of tears started in his eyes as the boy picked up yet another stone to try to skim it across the water and that is when the Thunderer lost control of his thoughts completely. Sitting there on the log, he brought his huge fists to his temples and tried to shut it all out, but the images kept coming: Loki’s skill in using his throwing knives and other specialised blades, Loki chopping the standard mast with a badly aimed axe throw when he first had a go, Loki losing his temper when he could not aim a broadsword at the straw dummy’s stomach properly… Loki defeating everyone… as a child… at skimming stones:

 

 _~ “Now, what you must do is find a stone to do the job. It must be a champion of stones! Smooth, flattened and oval, so that it fits in your palm… like so.”_ _Odin placed a perfect stone in Loki’s seven year old hand and positioned his fingers in the right way. “You must not grip it tightly, yet you must control_ _the moment at which it leaves your hand, it is the perfection of this which will determine how good you are at the game!”_ _The young brown haired Prince nodded at his father’s instructions and tried to remember what he had seen him do. He planted his booted feet so that_ _he stood at an angle to the waterline and bent one knee to stoop so he could gain a clear sight along the surface of the lake. Drawing his arm_ _backwards, he then let the stone loose with as much force as he could , almost twirling around and falling over, but to his delight he_ _watched the stone skip the surface once, twice, three times. He jumped into the air, clapping his hands together in excitement, “Fadir, I did it!”_

_"You did indeed! Thor, Tyr, did you see that?”_

_Two older Princes appeared and one, a golden haired future King of Asgard named Thor, scooped the youngster up and swung him about in victory._

_"I did it, Thor! I skimmed the stone!”_

 

“My Prince…?” A far-off echo broke into the vision and the scenario began to fade away, confusing Thor once again, he had been so caught up in it.

“Loki..?” His voice was cracked with emotion and as the lake of Asgard began to appear again, it was blurred behind the tears that now filled his eyes, “Loki?” he sobbed, “Loki?!”

“Sire, Loki is not here. Are you well? Do you require aid?”

 

Rubbing his eyes confusedly, Thor looked for the owner of the strange voice, only to find that the woman from the family he had been watching was standing next to him with her gentle hand on his arm. Her face held nothing but compassion for him and he felt his own flush with embarrassment. He closed his eyes and hung his head as deep sorrow washed over him; it had all been memories, brought on by the simple game being played by a family on a pleasant morning. Loki was not here and they were no longer children. Loki was being held in a prison kept locked by a mechanism that only existed outside of the Nine and he was never going to see him again.

 

“My Prince… Thor? Please, if you would allow me?”

Thor raised his head to look at this lovely young Asgardian, who tentatively reached out and wiped the tears from his face with a soft handkerchief before pressing it into his hand.

“To keep. Tuck it into your armour and no one will know.” She smiled then, and he found it was infectious, managing one in return. “We love you, my Prince, we all do. You are so brave and so strong and we know you are our Protector, yet…” she paused, uncertain if her words would be seen as inappropriate.

“Yet?” Thor’s voice was laden with the sadness the visions had brought him and the young lady resolved to go on.

“Yet it _must_ hurt you. All that has gone on in recent years and which has brought hardship to Asgard cannot be shouldered easily and you must know that your people do not expect you to carry on without some measure of feeling bad. You are a normal person beneath all the gifts that the Nine has bestowed upon you and you are not impervious to doubt, anger, sorrow…” She met his eyes firmly and her slim fingers gripped his arm tighter, “You miss him, do you not? With _all_ your heart?”

Thor nodded, feeling his face grow hot again, “I do.”

“Then do something about it. Forgive me for my boldness my Prince, but do not allow yourself to wallow in a quagmire of sadness and self-pity. Talk to someone who feels the same way, go to places you spent time together and bring back the memories – for good or for bad. Create something in his memory that will be for the good of the Nine. Do not allow him to fade into history just because thinking about him hurts! Bring him back to life here in Asgard in ways that will remind us of the times when he was working for the good of us, when he was the Prince we all knew and loved. Thor… it is never easy to lose someone, but how you deal with it is what matters.”

 

Thor reached for her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss gently.

“My thanks to you, dear lady. Your strong words are of a kind with my mother’s once upon a time. She was caring but firm and made me who I am today, and I am certain that your children will become fine citizens of Asgard one day.” Thor smiled again, but this time it had a genuine warmth to it, “Go, play with your family and enjoy them. I must return to the Palace.”

 

The young woman blushed prettily at her Prince’s kiss and smiled shyly, “It is nothing more than I would do for anyone who I found this way…” she paused as she spotted something embedded in the log just behind where Thor sat. He followed her gaze and stood up in puzzlement before reaching out and pulling the object out of the dry and toughened wood.

 

How it had got there he would never quite know, but now he had it he knew it would become a treasured possession. As he smiled and waved at the family now playing at the water’s edge again, Thor made his way back to the Palace with a lighter heart than he had been carrying for a long time. He looked at what he had found and slipped it into a leather pouch at his waist; he would carry it with him always.

 

One of Loki’s finest throwing blades.

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of past times and traditions handed down through generations and this story is echoed in a story of the same title in my Loki Origins Series.


End file.
